Witness to the Storm: A Jewish Journey from Nazi Berlin to the 82nd Airborne, 1920-1945

by Werner T. Angress

This is the story of a patriotic German-Jewish boy who in his teens was rejected and betrayed by the Nazi regime. After fleeing Germany with his family, he escaped to the United States. He then worked as a chicken farmer, joined the army, trained as an interrogator, jumped as a D-Day paratrooper, helped liberate a concentration camp, and fought to rescue the country of his birth. Following a distinguished career as a history professor in the US, he chose to retire in Berlin, where he spent his last years talking to German schoolchildren about what it was like to grow up Jewish under the Third Reich, and working to promote tolerance and peace.

Winner of a 2013 Independent Publisher Book Award: Gold Medal, Best Adult Non-Fiction Personal Ebook

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction, Holocaust, Biography, War

355 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A life well-lived recalled

A “60 Minutes” episode acquainted me with “the Ritchie Boys,” Jewish German immigrants who chose to serve their new country in fighting their birth homeland during WWII. Werner Angress was one of them, and after reading a more general history of these remarkable patriots, I decided to read his book, too.
This book is interesting, but frankly, it is more of a personal memoir dealing with his whole life than a continuation of the Ritchie Boys saga.
For his family members it would be amazing history to cherish, but much of it is personal history having little to do with life under the Nazis, his escape or his heroic service.
Still, it offers glimpses of what went haywire in Germany, and therefore is well worth reading, even for non-family members.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend "Witness to the Storm." I did skim the first part of the book as the childhood background seemed as if it would be more appealing to family readers. The just of it was Werner's father was a successful hard-working businessman who spent little time with the children and his mother was more interested in social life than spending time with her children. The family employed workers to care for the home, children and cooking.
The book becomes more interesting during the mid to late 1930's when Werner begins to realize the evils of Germany's political arena and the beginning of severe hatred towards Jews. Finally, the third part of the book really held my attention, when Werner's parents send him to the USA for safety.
Werner experiences many changes and hair-raising adventures during WWII. I suggest you read the book if you want to feel you are there with him during the heat of the war and afterwards.

[Jeff Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique and compelling memoir

Werner Angress' memoir covers aspects of the Third Reich that I wasn't expecting, mainly growing up as a Jewish boy in the Thirties and being in Jewish youth groups paradoxically sponsored by the Nazi government itself. His further adventures, such as parachuting into Normandy on D-Day, were exciting. This is a superb memoir that should be widely read.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idk if the narration was part of what I didn’t like about it I like the history but it was hard to listen to and keep up with at times. The last part was much as what I heard in another book but elaborated a little and I liked that. I still liked hearing the story just took me longer to get through.

[Pamela S · Rating 5 out of 5]

another WWII experience

I have read so many World War II books… I should’ve been keeping count! But this one is an aspect I had never read about before: what it was like growing up as Hitler was coming to power, escaping Nazi Germany, and then going back to fight against the Germans. Fascinating story!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Až na ty německé výrazy - co by se stalo, kdyby si S. Rudnicki naštudoval výslovnost německých slov.
To je opravdu nedůstojné.